Arun Mathai - photo by: Nisha Sondhe

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DANCE INTERVIEW: ARUN MATHAI

Innovative Dancer Ready to Go 'Into the Bollywoods' at Hollywood's Ford Theatre

By: Neha Sarin-Malhotra
July 21, 2011

Arun Mathai - photo by Jennifer Noble(Hollywood, California) Achinta S. McDaniel and her blue13 Dance Company return to the stage this weekend with a pair of showings of Into the Bollywoods at Ford Amphitheatre on July 22nd and 23rd. Hailed as "a spectacular Indian dance and music fairytale filled with magical beans, princes charming, wicked witches, and a Bollywood-dancing world of intertwined tales," Into the Bollywoods is a fresh Indian take on Western classics such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, among others. Into the Bollywoods stars Arun Mathai in a leading role. Spinning on Jack scaling up the beanstalk, Mr. Mathai portrays Jai, who climbs the big green plant "to conquer his villains, win the girl of his dreams, and live happily ever after!"

 
Buzzine Bollywood's Neha Sarin-Malhotra caught up with Mr. Mathai to discuss Into the Bollywoods.
 
Neha Sarin-Malhotra: Did you face any challenges in portraying an Indian character?
 
Arun Mathai: Though I often describe my character as the typical “good Indian boy,” the truth is that this character isn’t necessarily Indian. The beauty of blue13 dance shows is that dancers of any ethnicity can play every character. Currently, there are only three South Asian dancers in the company. The rest, including many of the major characters, are from very different ethnic backgrounds.
 
NSM: Tell us how you started with blue13...
 
AM: My friend Seema forwarded an e-mail she received about auditions for blue13. I was out of the country during the auditions, but I e-mailed Achinta and asked if I could audition when I returned. She brought me to one of her rehearsals, set some choreography on me, and apparently liked what she saw. I’ve been with the company for over six years now.
 
NSM: When did you decide that dancing was your true calling?
 
AM: I’ve always loved dancing, but I don’t think I realized how passionate I was about dance until after I graduated from USC.
 
NSM: Tell us about the show and your character (in Into the Bollywoods)...
 

Arun Mathai from "Gaga for Bollywood" photoshoot - credit: Kory Keith

AM: Into the Bollywoods is inspired by Stephen Sondheim’s musical Into the Woods. Sondheim used characters from Grimm’s fairy tales to tell his own narrative. We are taking this concept but using Bollywood songs to tell our own unique story. The fairy tales include Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Hansel and Gretel, Goldilocks, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and Jack and the Beanstalk.
 
My character, Jai, is a take off of the main character from the Jack and the Beanstalk fable. He is a humble kid from a poor village. He doesn't smoke or drink. He's very respectful and totally innocent. In short, he's a good Indian boy. He falls in love with the daughter of a wealthy noblewoman, but she is engaged to another man (as per Bollywood norm). What follows is a trip through Grimm’s fairy tales, and in the end, as per Bollywood norm, our hero triumphs and wins the girl.
 
NSM: How much Indian mythology have you seen and read? Did that help your inclination toward Indian classical dance?
 
AM: I’m Catholic, so I knew nothing about Hinduism before I started studying Bharatanatyam. It was actually through Bharatanatyam that I came to learn about Hindu mythology. In fact, I learned so much about it at a relatively early age that I often knew more than many of my Hindu schoolmates.
 
NSM: How much did your family influence your decision to enter entertainment?
 
AM: My parents have always encouraged me to dance. Their stance on whether I should pursue it professionally has gradually shifted, but their support of my dancing itself has never wavered, and I’m exceedingly grateful for that.
 
 

"Jai Ho! Jai Ho! It's off to work we go!" is the tagline. Be sure to check out Mr. Mathai and blue13's 'Into the Bollywoods' this weekend at the Ford Amphitheatre.
 
SHOW INFO:
 
Friday & Saturday July 22 & 23, 2011 8:30 p.m.
Full price: $30
VIP:  $45 Premium seating, a blue13 Goody Bag, and a free ticket into a drawing for a private Bollywood Dance lesson for you and your friends! (some restrictions apply)
Students: $15 | Children: $12
General Admission
 
Picnic or buy food/drinks/Indian wares in the Bollywood Courtyard pre-show from 6:30 p.m. on!
 
Ford Amphitheatre
2580 Cahuenga Boulevard East
Hollywood, California
 
 
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